Still got to write some individual summaries for the members and a sample post, but whacking this here for now [hider=The Brotherhood of Mutants][CENTER][COLOR=SLATEGRAY][B]C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L[/B][/COLOR][h1][b]B R O T H E R H O O D O F M U T A N T S[/b][/h1][hr] [img]https://www.fotw.info/images/f/fic_xmen.gif[/img][h3][sup][sub]T H E R E P U B L I C O F G E N O S H A[/sub][/sup][/h3][img]IMAGE/BANNER[/img] [/CENTER][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr] [CENTER][sup]“Some would be offended at a wolf presenting as a sheep, but I have learned hard lessons from your kind, so I know the truth … you are all wolves.”[/sup][/CENTER] [INDENT][INDENT][i] The foundation of the Brotherhood of Mutants formed as a result of great oppression, not initially against mutantkind but under the horrific rule of the Third Reich. Born Max Eisenhardt, the boy who would become Magneto witnessed the death of his family and community first hand, all allegiance his father had shown to the German nation in the First World War forgotten in the racially motivated hatred of the Nazi Regime. A young, broken child, mistakenly buried alongside the dead, would later be recaptured by the SS and subject to the same horror again and again within the walls of Vernichtungslager in Auschwitz. Through lessons learned during his family’s efforts to flee into Poland and beyond, Max survived, narrowly avoiding the worst of the experiments done on populace as the mysteries of mutantkind began to be understood. Equally he was able to aid another young prisoner of the camps, a young girl named Magda. A blight of grave illness delayed the development of Max’s powers, beyond the usual manifestation during adolescence which is common among mutants. Together with Magda he eventually escaped into the Soviet Union, taking on the name Eric Lehnsherr and starting a new life in the Carpathian Mountains. Eric had not escaped the long arm of oppression, as his powers would eventually manifest while trying to save his young family. For his efforts, Eric was restrained and beaten, prevented from saving his young daughter and terrifying his now-wife Magda in the process. She fled, thankfully not witnessing the destruction Eric brought upon the authorities of their home. Once again a lone survivor, Eric fled into Israel, taking yet another name as Erik Magnus. Here he found perhaps the one peaceful occupation of his life, working as a medical orderly in a psychiatric ward for fellow Holocaust survivors. These years would also result in the defining relationship of Eric’s life, meeting Charles Xavier. The pair had much in common, more than both immediately revealed, and enjoyed each other’s company through the latter’s study of the mind. When Hydra forces later attacked the facility while Xavier was still present as a part of his research, their mutant powers were exposed to each other. While they parted over matters of incompatible philosophy, to think they would end as rivals was yet to cross either mind. As Eric’s powers grew, he began to work various Western Intelligence agencies, aiding in the hunting down of missing Nazi war criminals and the nascent Hyrda. Eric would often report his targets had died in his pursuit, instead handing over the captured fascists to Mossad, while increasingly viewing the world in a matter of mutants vs humans, he still felt enough connection to his Jewish roots to support their cause of restitution. While the Western agencies were willing to turn a blind eye to this practice when he was primarily focused on ex-Nazis the Soviets were looking to benefit from, eventually the time came when the individual in question had been earmarked for repatriation within the United States in exchange for information on key Soviet projects. As a consequence several Western spy agencies orchestrated a string of attempts to punish, and later kill, Eric. After a particularly brutal string of attacks he resolved to travel to the United States to put an end to those who hunted him at the source, taking on another false name, Magnus Xavier, for this journey. The choice of name, obviously a reference to the last true friend Eric remembered, proved prophetic as after arriving in New York the use of the surname soon attracted the attention of the true Xavier, recently returned from service in the Korean War. Momentarily distracted from his efforts of vengeance by Charles’ optimism, he assisted in the creation of Cerebro and the first generation of X-men. Ultimately this momentary break from conflict came to an end when the agents who were hunting Eric began to strike at him through personal connections, resulting in yet further tragedy. Driven finally to the conclusion that humanity and mutantkind could not peacefully coexist, and armed with important data from Cerebro, Eric took the name of Magneto and left his work with the nascent X-men to form the Brotherhood. Using the knowledge gleaned from Cerebro, Magneto was able to recruit powerful and willing mutants to his cause, shortly afterwards creating Asteroid M as their isolated base of operations. Principally among them at first were the Maximoff Twins and Mystique. The membership, even leadership, of the Brotherhood has changed over the years and so has their approach, ranging from supporting partisan mutant factions, championing mutant isolationism and at times, global mutant domination. Their relationship with the X-men has equally shifted over the years, ranging from mistrusted allies to hated foes, several individuals of both teams having even found themselves switching between the two groups of mutants. Even more pressing to the purpose of the Brotherhood than their ‘cousins’ in the X-men is the changing state of the world and its view of mutants. Regimes have come and gone, the hatred burning on and on. In many ways while the X-men have always shone as the brightness of the world, the Brotherhood have reflected the wrath brought upon mutants and those who support them. They have been the vengeance to Xavier’s justice. In the most extreme of Magneto’s actions he truly threatened the safety of the whole world, although it became apparent that the use of his powers, particularly in the construction and maintenance of Asteroid M, had a powerfully deteriorating effect on his mind and stability. In the greatest of these conflicts, a battle between the X-men and Brotherhood that would eventually destroy much of Asteroid M, the true reality of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver was revealed to Magneto. On the day he lost his first child, he had unknowingly lost twins of his own blood, carried by Magda as she fled from the destruction wrought by her enraged husband. At the time, this shattered the fractured loyalties of the Brotherhood, as much as the physical structure of Asteroid M. With the strain of the battle shattering the last of Magneto’s sanity, even the most cruel hearted of the Brotherhood scattered from his leadership. In a desperate effort to once again achieve domination, Magneto attempted to create the ultimate mutant, Alpha. While successful, his creation rebelled against him, using its distorting power to revert Magneto to an infant. The effect proved temporary, if only from Erik the Red eventually restoring Magneto to adulthood, if not to his same advanced age, the restorative work on him rectified the mental damage his powers had inflicted upon him and stabilised their use. He would never cease to be Magneto, but without the gradual slide into madness resuming again, he abandoned the worst of his aggressive schemes. In his absence, the other members of the Brotherhood had not been idle. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver spent the interim as heroes of humanity, rather than mutant kind, while the rest fractured, many coming to eventually aid their previous rivals in the X-men while others descended into simple self serving anarchism. By the time Magento’s identity and faculties had been restored, he had no wish to immediately call upon them, recognising that perhaps his children would experience only pain from his sudden return to their lives, and having little need of either the soft hearted or the entirely callous in the new task he had set himself. The isolated but prosperous nation of Genosha had built its great wealth on the back of vast mutant slavery, a situation that even in Magneto’s calmed state he could not allow to persist. Seeking out the one other member of the brotherhood he could still trust to act in Mystique, the pair set about kindling the fires of a mutant uprising. With her guile and the force of his power it was a matter of months before the revolution swept the island nation. A bloody civil war raged for an extended period, but the mutants were eventually successful, placing Magneto as the new head of state. This began a period of reconciliation for both Magneto and the Brotherhood among mutants, particularly of the younger generation. Painted as a revolutionary and hero, word of his return soon spread from the island of Genosha across the world, and the Brotherhood was reformed, no longer dedicated to violent overthrow of the global order, but instead the preservation of the new mutant homeland of Genosha. They did not sit idle, however, and were instrumental in rescuing both the X-men, and the wider world, from the ravages of Apocalypse, Magneto stepping in to fill the absence of his old friend Xavier and rebuilding his educational efforts on Genosha. This is not to say the idealistic X-Men and hard line Brotherhood do not still clash, although the conflict is often of a more competitive or theoretical nature these days, the latter are certainly still maintained to do what the heroes of Xavier’s dream could not, especially with the return of Charles to Earth. [/i][/indent][/indent] [INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][INDENT][INDENT][i] Unlike the X-Men, the Brotherhood does not simply seek to ensure the survival of mutantkind, but to ruthlessly protect its prosperity and security. They may hold hopes of a similar future, but they do not have the luxury of compassion, instead playing the zero-sum game of realist politik. They have abandoned their mad dreams of global domination (at least openly) but will never be afraid to risk, and take, human lives to safeguard mutant ones. Currently while the X-Men and Genosha react to the return of Charles Xavier, the Brotherhood continues to work both at home and abroad to safeguard mutant (Genoshan) interests, in much the same manner as any secret service of the human world. Difficult choices have, will and can be made. Recently, with yet another upswing of anti-mutant sentiment festering across the world, their activities have increased greatly, hunting down rumours of yet another planned desolation of their homeland, one they are desperate to prevent. TLDR: Super fun mutant black ops [/i][/indent][/indent] [INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][INDENT][INDENT][i] [hider=Magneto] Known in the past as one of the great villains of the post-war era, the revitalised Magneto has undergone not just a physical transformation, but a correct of the maddening effect his powers had upon his mental state. On many occasions assisting, and even leading, his long term rivals in the X-Men. An accidental pop-culture icon of rebellion, this has reached new levels following the successful revolution in Genosha, now acting as leader of the nation as well as the Brotherhood, Magneto seeks to forge a safe haven for mutants across the globe and prevent any chance of the genocide he most fears. [img]https://cdn.staticneo.com/fa/eric_801014_QkWC3.jpg[/img] [/hider] [hider=Mystique] Raven Darkholme has fought for the cause that the Brotherhood represents for far longer than it has existed. One of the first documented mutants in the modern era, she seeks to bring about a better, more secure, future of Mutantkind and has no qualms about what may become of humanity in the process. She was an early recruit to Magneto's cause, and later reformed the Brotherhood during Magneto's absence. Despite being mother, both through adoption and biologically, to at least two X-men, she has a cold relationship with the group, in particular holding ill will towards Xavier for turning Rogue against her. Currently, she is one of the most active members of the Brotherhood in the various campaigns of espionage designed to ensure the safety of Genosha, as befits her skills and traits. [img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/13ddb57e3d2fc71c408b507a2146c1a9/38d8cba6f6420f18-da/s1280x1920/9a8fe1466c535282f1f0a3e8eb826c535ea7b321.jpg[/img] [/hider] [hider=Polaris] Years prior, Lorna Dane was manipulated into the belief that her true father was none other than Magneto, an easy explanation for her ability to manipulate magnatism in much the same way. Having lead a lift of forcibly hiding the physical side effect of her mutation by her adoptive parents and other suffering at the hands of humankind, she had little desire to further endanger herself or become mixed up in the myriad battles of the X-Men and Brotherhood. Despite her efforts to lead a normal life, as Polaris, she has often been dragged into the conflicts of Mutantkind. While she has, out of neccesity, fought alongside the X-Men previously, she has grown increasingly disillusioned with the hope that humanity can ever be taught to accept mutants from good deeds alone. Most recently, the thought of a potential family connection with Magneto has spurred her to covertly enter the nation of Genosha, avoiding direct contact with both the X-Men and Brotherhood, seeking some evidence that the old lie may have in fact been a truth of coincidence. [img]https://i.pinimg.com/736x/48/7b/b8/487bb8bfcf14c151f2a881cf42934397.jpg[/img] [/hider] [hider=Quicksilver] One half of the troubled Maximoff twins, Pietro has long had a complicated relationship with the Brotherhood, initially a part of the group only due to his sister, he has since become increasingly aligned with their mission, believing in the superiority of Mutantkind. The revelation that Magneto was their true father was taken poorly by Pietro, and during Magneto's absence, both twins left the Brotherhood to live among humanity as superpowered heroes. With Wanda's mind having deteriorated, resulting in several incidents of increasing danger, the pair returned to the Brotherhood as a safe haven where their powers were free to be unleashed. While Magneto and Pietro's relationship remains almost hostile, he now fights aggresively to maintain Genosha as a place he and his sister can be free from the persecution of the outside world. [img]https://i.pinimg.com/236x/4f/32/48/4f324826395f2c77ec1371c28be2d7a8.jpg[/img] [/hider] [hider=Scarlet Witch] With the ability to alter probability, often unwillingly, Wanda Maximoff has long been both a blessing and a curse to those around her. Initially a part of the Brotherhood out of olbigation to Magneto for saving her and Pietro's life, Wanda freely left the Brotherhood after the disappearance of Magneto and has had little interaction with the struggles of Mutankind ever since. However, after a mental breakdown caused her to rewrite reality and repeatedly fall into catatonic states, Quicksilver has fled with her, seeking out their father once more. This would culminate in the disaster of the House of M, and later M-day, with the Scarlet Witch rewriting reality one further time to drastically reduce the mutant population, declaring 'No More Mutants.' The shock of this act continues to echo across the Mutant population, and for a crime so dire, it is unlikely Magneto can shield his daughter from the wrath of those mutants still empowered. [img]https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b91ca8e3735692419dec025007f608cc-lq[/img] [/hider] [hider=Gambit] Few mutants exemplify the complicated and convoluted nature of the mutant factions than Gambit. Raised as a member of the Thieves' Guild and having worked alongside the X-men, Marauders and most recently the Brotherhood, his past is as chequered as it is varied. Most ironically (or perhaps apt) considering the code name of his long term off and on again paramour, Gambit could most certainly be described as the rogue of the mutant conflict. First brought to the attention of the X-men while assisting in recovering a de-aged Storm from grave danger, the adventuring criminal had little in common with Xavier or other important members of the X-Men, and those who he might have aligned with were the kind to be most suspicious of him. Despite this, after several further encounters he would ultimately join the team. Whether this was due to a true change of heart from the Ex-Thief, or rather more to do with the Southern charms of a certain member, remains up for debate. He would, over time, become a well liked and valued member of the team. This made the revelation that he had long been a double agent working for Sinister, despite his reasons, all the more painful for the X-Men, in particular for Rogue. In their rage, the team abandoned Gambit in the Antarctic, a situation he was unlikely to survive. The poles are a great source of magnatic power, however, and so eventually the wandering mutant became known to Magneto. He had little love for the individual who had contributed to spoiling many of his plans, but he was also in the process of building his new union of all mutants, and so Gambit was rescued from the ice, and given a place in the New Brotherhood. Since then, Gambit has worked to further the aims of the Brotherhood, taking part in the Second Genoshan Revolution, and now being sent out into the wider world to assess the existing threats to the island nation. [img]http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/43300000/Gambit-gambit-43366670-967-1267.jpg[/img] [/hider] [hider=Exodus] A being out of time, freed from centuries of imprisonment by Magneto during the darkest years of his maddness, Exodus has been an ardent, if unhinged, supporter of the cause ever since. A mutant of frightening ability, he possesses vast superhuman powers, including telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, and durability. Much like Mystique, during Magneto's absence Exodus lead a splinter faction of the Brotherhood, known as the Acolytes. While Mystique's brotherhood may have represented the cunning, more reasonable, aspect of Mutant extremists, Exodus took the most aggressive and damaged souls. This compounded the most extreme elements of the Brotherhood, creating a small yet destructive faction that has caused trouble for the X-Men and wider world since their creation. The return of Magneto and the rebuilding of bridges between the X-men and many of the Brotherhood has been a complicated issue for Exodus, a rare cause of strife between himself and Magneto. To suggest the members of the X-men are uncomfortable with his presence would be a vast understatement, yet he remains a key aspect of Genosha's defence against the hostility of mankind. [img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EEMPPl7X4AALNfL.jpg[/img] [/hider] [hider=Psylocke] The mutant Kwannon has more reason than most to hate the human regimes of the world. Raised to be the perfect killer by The Hand, even before her state as a mutant was discovered she was forcibly outcast from the normal strata of society. Her loyalty was ensured through a combination of coercion and indoctrination, but it wasn't perfect. Even as she was making a name for herself as the deadliest of assassins in the Japanese underworld, she fell in love and fell pregnant. In displeasure, the Hand slew her lover and took her daughter from her, giving them yet more control over the peerless assassin. Eventually, however, she was able to break free and slay her masters, before setting out to locate her daughter. Sadly, before she could proceed further in her task, a series of events resulted in the mind of Betsy Braddock taking over Kwannon's body. For this time, Betsy continued under the name of Psylocke, despite wearing the skin of a different woman, and carried on fighting as a member of Xavier's X-men. Eventually Kwannon was able to return to her true form. The blooded murderess had little in common with the idealistic X-men, and so while she continued to use the name Psylocke, she drifted away from the team. Eventually, she would join the Brotherhood, a union of mutants with more place for her deadly skills, under the promise of vengeance upon those who had wronged her and assistance in locating her daughter. Of the active members of the Brotherhood, she has one of the most workable relationships with the membership of the X-Men, having little in the way of direct conflict with them, and benefitting from many of the X-Men not being entirely able to differentiate her from the Psylocke who fought by their side for years. [img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/57/3e/69/573e696e0cdad8058294b8f47d5c9e44.jpg[/img] [/hider] [/i][/indent][/indent] [INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]S A M P L E P O S T:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][INDENT][INDENT][i] "You aren't supposed to be in here, trooper." [color=4169E1]"No, but you are."[/color] As the man turned from the terminal to face the approaching soldier, the features he confronted began to swim and shift, a flash of blue, before they reformed. For the briefest of moment's, it was like gazing into a mirror. A mirror which immediately punched him straight in the throat. The system shock was immediate, doubling over in a splutter of desperate breathing. He was utterly unable to anticipate the elbow, his elbow for all appearances, which slammed down into the back of his head, his cranium immediately rebounding off the desk he had been sitting at, the pain of both strikes only interrupted by the sudden loss of consciousness. The figure now wearing the officer's face easily slid into the chair, drawing themselves up to the station. "Identification required, please complete iris scan." The security fell away as the body double lent down to provide the reading. Around the capital of Hammer Bay, similar terminals were being accessed as the Resistance launched their great gambit. This, however, was the nexus, the primary access point that could only be interfaced by the highest ranking of the Magistrates. That, or someone wearing their faces. Once she had passed the scans, Mystique allowed the false skin of the Magistrate office to fall away, her own deep blue skin swallowing the light cast by the computer screen in a matter wholly different to baseline humans. Her fingers still worked away, inputting the code she had written herself. Some things you couldn't leave up to others, no matter how many hands you could now command. With a flick of her wrist, she placed a finger to her ear, triggering the comm-bead within. [color=4169E1]"All cells reporting green, terminating broadcast."[/color] As she spoke, the virus placed within each of the government's broadcasting stations began to work, eating away at the code to leave it an inoperable tangle of scrambled data. Far from simply cutting off communication, the psychic signals influencing the minds of the countless slave-mutates began to fizzle and fade across the capital, the greatest main holdout of the Magistrate government. A momentary lapse, before the Brotherhood's transmission replaced it, forcibly played across screens and radios over the entire Genoshan nation. [color=4169E1]"You're live, Eric."[/color] Mystique lent back in the comfortable padding of the chair as the very same screen she had used to begin the pirate broadcast had the very same message imposed upon it. From imposed darkness, the figure of Magneto drifted into view, his iconic helm, a symbol that had been rallied to by free mutants across the state of Genosha, framing the details of his face as piercing, charismatic, eye bore into the camera. [color=DC143C]"Brothers and Sisters, Mutants of Genosha, bask now in the freedom we have won for you."[/color] The magnetism of metal was not the only form that Magneto commanded, the fiery zeal of his words flooding across the nation to both current freedom fighters and those newly freed by the failing mental controls the Magistrates had reinstated since their return to power. [color=DC143C]"Now is not the time for reconciliation, the humans were offered peace, and they repaid it with throwing you back in bonds, no, it is time they learn what we already know, that there is no place to hide. Rise up, Children of Atom, and claim the future that is our right."[/color] As the simple but direct message came to an end, the seat from which Mystique had instigated the broadcast was already empty, the Magistrate slumped across the floor waking up to a Genosha entirely changed in the scant moments of his unconsciousness. [/i][/indent][/indent] [INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]P O S T C A T A L O G:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][INDENT][INDENT][i]TBC[/i][/indent][/indent][/hider]